There are two basic strategies for assigning items to bin locations in a warehouse. In a fixed slotting system, every SKU has a set location and new replenishments of that item go to the same bin. In a random slotting system, items are placed in any open bin into which they fit, a decision made on the fly by… Read More

SKU proliferation in food distribution has generally made pick lines longer and reduced the number of picks per foot traveled along the pick line. However, many operations do incur penalties in order selection productivity because of the opposite problem: too many picks per foot traveled creating picker congestion.… Read More

When looking at the factors that affect productivity in the distribution center, some are out of your control, like the magnitude of volumes shipped, item variety, order profiles and sizes as well as unionization. On the other hand, some are within your control:… Read More

1. Receiving

The DC manager of a Texas wholesaler was walking me through the operation. He pointed to that morning’s receipts and said “our philosophy is to keep everything in the vendor’s pallet configuration.” He waved his hands from the receipts to the racking – “everything should fly right off the dock and into storage.”… Read More

Some years ago, I was auditing a regional distribution center for a major foodservice distributor. The audit was going well, the operation had many fine features to recommend it, until we hit the first cooler.… Read More

Talking about pick lines and their impact on distribution performance, most operators think primarily about picking efficiency. While of utmost importance, pick lines affect every labor activity in the warehouse.… Read More